Vittorio Orlando: Italy [Makers of the Modern World Series] (London: Haus Publishing, April 2010)

Description:Vittorio Emanuele Orlando was the Italian representative to the Paris Peace Conference in 1919. This book focuses on him not only in that role, but as Education and Justice minister during the Liberal period in pre-war Italy, and as Interior Minister and Prime Minister during World War I. Before the war, he was instrumental in reconciling the Church and State and expanding civil rights. Orlando took over the country during its darkest days during World War I and led it to victory. During the Peace Conference, he clashed with President Woodrow Wilson in an unfortunate struggle that contributed to the rise of fascism in Italy. This book is the first one on Orlando in English and is based on archival and other primary sources.

Haus Publishing

Italy: From Revolution to Republic, 1700 to the Present (Boulder: Westview Press, 1995) (2^nd ed. 1998; second printing of 2^nd ed. 1999; 3^rd ed., 2004; 4^th ed. 2009)

I had been teaching the course on Modern Italy for a number of years, and was always unsatisfied by the books available for students taking the course. I also believed that modern Italian history was frequently viewed in isolation and without much regard to the European or wider Italian contexts. As these feelings became stronger, I decided to write my own book on the history of Italy-one that covered a long time period, was wide-ranging, and could be easily read by students and the general public. This book was a selection of the History Book Club and has gone into four editions.

Description: As I conceived it, this book fills a serious gap in the field by synthesizing modern Italian history and placing it in a fully European context. It examines contemporary Italy's economic, social, and cultural development while providing a picture of how ordinary Italians live. It emphasizes globalization, the country's transformation from a land of emigration to one of immigration, and Italy's growing cultural importance in the contemporary era. The work examines the role of women and gives ample attention to the Italian South. The book also analyzes the growing phenomenon of immigration. There are biographical sketches of important characters in each chapter. The book includes a long, annotated bibliographical essay that provides a thorough examination of the latest and most important contemporary scholarship on Italy.

Review: "That Spencer Di Scala's survey of the last three hundred years of Italian history has reached a third edition stands as a testament to its value.... Di Scala enjoys a well-deserved reputation as one of America's foremost students of Italy with a particular emphasis on its Socialist tradition. Italy from Revolution to Republic is a very readable work that has now been enhanced by improved graphics and a collection of short biographical sketches, or "portraits," of illustrative figures over the past three centuries." —Roy Domenico, Italica, June 2006

Westview Press

Twentieth Century Europe: Politics, Society, Culture (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2004)

While teaching my course on twentieth century Europe, I discovered that similar problems to those that existed with regard to Italy were prevalent with regard to modern Europe. While more general histories were available on the topic, I did not find any of them satisfactory. For example, in my opinion, no book comprehensively covered the vital role of science or the role and contributions of the smaller European countries in European or world history over the entire twentieth century. In addition, I felt, they were overly influenced by a Cold War mentality and did not adequately consider longer-term events. I therefore decided to write my own work.

Description: This book views the twentieth century not as a "short" century but as a "long" one. It is the first book to look at the history of the century from a post-Cold War perspective, taking a broader view of the century than simply the struggle between communism and capitalism. The book examines the increasingly important role of science and technology in European history, from the revolution in physics to the one in biology. It places special emphasis on the smaller countries of Europe, examining all of them in detail to demonstrate their practical influence in economics, politics, society, and science. The book’s new examination of the twentieth century rests on the premise that a full explanation of an event must provide historical context—twentieth century events may be influenced by facts dating from the nineteenth century or earlier. The work strikes a balance among political, social, and cultural history, with special attention paid to demonstrating the relevance of twentieth century history to the present.

The book includes two biographical sketches in each chapter to profile individuals prominent during the time period covered and their lives as a whole. An annotated bibliographical essay in each chapter allows readers to expand on the issues discussed and gives an idea of the arguments confronted by the books cited in the bibliography.

Review: "Without a doubt, the greatest strength of Twentieth Century Europe is the perspective…it is the only textbook that views the twentieth century from the post-Cold War angle. The years after 1945 are not treated as some kind of afterthought."
—Ronald J. Ross, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee

Review: "I believe that a strength of this text that does not appear in other texts is the coverage of the smaller countries. Spencer Di Scala follows this through from the end of the nineteenth century to the present, and it is very effective."
—Alexander De Grand, North Carolina State University

Dilemmas of Italian Socialism: The Politics of Filippo Turati (Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1980)

In doing research for my first book, I tried to "rehabilitate" the founder of the Italian Socialist Party (PSI). Filippo Turati founded the PSI along with his companion Anna Kuliscioff and other friends in 1892, but after his death was denigrated by historic leaders of the Italian Communist Party (PCI), particularly by its secretary Palmiro Togliatti in a very effective campaign of vituperation. Yet, Turati’s policies and predictions turned out to be prescient and the country lost seventy-five years, passing through many tragic events before leftists admitted that Turati had been correct and attempting to adopt "reformism."

Description: Many of the dilemmas that faced Western Marxists following World War II also arose during the early years of the PSI. In the period between its founding in 1892 and the outbreak of the First World War, the PSI was deeply divided over whether socialism could best be achieved by revolution or reform, political intransigence or cooperation, labor militancy or an emphasis on production. These issues emerge forcefully in this, the first full-length study to appear on Turati in English. Turati was a proponent of the idea that a strong liberal democracy was a prerequisite for socialism.

This book makes extensive use of such primary sources as Party records, letters, pamphlets, newspapers, and Parliamentary debates, and analyses Turati’s ideology and politics in the context of the history of the PSI and Italy during the turbulent era of Giovanni Giolitti. It details Turati’s consistent efforts to bring about socio-economic reform in Italy in a democratic context, and his skillful political maneuvering in the face of attacks from both right and left wing elements within the PSI. In addition to showing the role of Turati and the PSI in the development of a liberal democracy, the book reveals the limit of the Socialist role—limits that resulted from a failure to reconcile the ideological splits within the Party and that rendered the socialists unable to tap their great popular support and, ultimately, made them powerless to stop the rise of Italian fascism.

Review: "Spencer Di Scala is an impassioned and thoroughly informed Italian specialist who is a scholar of the Giolitti era and Marxism. Editor of the Italian Quarterly between 1974 and 1978, Di Scala demonstrates a profound understanding of the Italian scene and social climate." —Giovanni Spadolini, "Berlinguer Has a Master: Turati," in La Stampa. Tutto Libri. January 10, 1981

The book was widely reviewed in American, Italian, British, and Dutch historical journals.

Filippo Turati. Le origini della Democrazia in Italia (Preface by Giuliano Amato) (Milan: Critica Sociale, 2007)

Because Dilemmas of Italian Socialism was so controversial, it did not receive an Italian translation until 2007. I updated the book and added a long introduction in which I placed Turati’s ideology within the Italian political context and the book in the context of Italian historiography. The book appeared with a long preface by Giuliano Amato, professor in Italian and American universities, twice Prime Minister, Vice-President of the European Constitutional Convention, and Minister of the Interior.

Even though it had taken a long time for the book to be published in Italian, it received a great deal of attention because Turati’s ideas were still relevant. There were seminars on the work, in which I participated, in the Italian Senate and Chamber of Deputies, television coverage and, above all, press coverage. The debate in the Italian press included long article articles in La Repubblica, Il Corriere della Sera, L’Unita`, L’Avanti, Il Riformista, and Critica Sociale. Even after many years, the book was still timely and had not lost its capacity to shock.

From Giuliano Amato’s Preface: "Ma forse ha ragione Spencer Di Scala nel pensare che quel giudizio cosi` distruttivo e senz’appello [of the Communists], ancorche` abbandonato negli anni successivi alla furibonda stagione (la stagione del ‘socialfascismo’) in cui venne espresso, abbia lasciato tuttavia una traccia nella freddezza di tanta parte della sinistra italiana davanti a Turati. Ed anche per questo e` piu` che giusto e tempestivo il contributo che egli ci offre per la riscoperta di chi ha titolo di essere considerato, se non il padre del riformismo italiano, di sicuro il suo primo vero leader politico."
—Giuliano Amato, "Prefazione," p. 9.

Renewing Italian Socialism: Nenni to Craxi (New York: Oxford University Press, 1988)

After having published Dilemmas of Italian Socialism, I wanted to write a comprehensive history of the movement after the era that I had covered in the previous book. Having given a brief synopsis of the period when the Socialists were defeated by Mussolini, I decided to begin in earnest with the period when the Socialists went into exile and began rebuilding their movement abroad; the book ends with an examination of the Craxi government up to 1987, the year in which I completed the manuscript.

An important innovation that I incorporated in this book was the interview method. I had conversations with many of the protagonists in Italy, including President of the Republic Sandro Pertini, and the United States—for example, Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., who had a crucial role in the "opening to the left," and State Department officials. In addition to archival work in Italy, I mined the archives at the John F. Kennedy Library for my chapter giving the definitive history on the coming of the center-left during the Kennedy Administration.

Description: The first comprehensive history of Italian Socialism in English, this book ranges from the defeat of Socialism by Mussolini in 1926 to its resurgence as a powerful force in Italian politics in the 1980s, concluding with the first full-scale coverage of Bettino Craxi’s administration. The Italian Socialist Party was defeated by Fascism in 1922 but emerged as the largest Italian leftist party immediately after World War II. Then, primarily under the leadership of Pietro Nenni, the PSI underwent 30 years of subordination, first to the Italian Communist Party, then to the Christian Democrats. This state of affairs lasted until 1976, when Craxi was elected secretary of the party. He went on not only to transform the PSI into a powerful party on the German Social Democratic model, but also to become Italy’s first Socialist Prime Minister.

During its record tenure from 1983 to 1987, Craxi’s administration presided over the revitalization of the Italian economy, eased labor tensions, and gave the country the longest period of government stability in 30 years. As president of the European Economic Community, Craxi played a prominent mediating role, and, utilizing his connections with the German socialists, Felipe Gonzalez, Francois Mitterrand and Andreas Papandreou, he revived Eurosocialism as an alternative to Eurocommunism.

The book is extensively researched with material from archives in Italy and the United States and interviews from an array of prominent Italian and American personalities, providing testimonies that in themselves have become important historical documents.

Review: "Seen from an Italian viewpoint, Di Scala’s book is stimulating and instructive above all because it allows us to reconsider an entire complex of events as an organic whole—events which frequently appear disconnected precisely because we have seen them from too close a perspective….But, viewed from an American vantage point, Di Scala’s book can be called a breakthrough work, quite innovative, compared to the hoary tradition of historical and political studies on Italy: that tradition by which it seems that an American who wishes to occupy himself with things Italian has nothing better to do than study Mussolini or—in some cases of particular sophistication—Antonio Gramsci."
—Giorgio Spini, Il Messaggero (Rome), November 5, 1989, p. 3

Review: "One need not agree with all of Di Scala’s conclusions to appreciate this book. From these pages one understands better the activities of Morandi, Saragat, and Nenni and the frustrations of a party which could never reap the electoral rewards that its central role merited. Fundamental questions about the future of socialism are incisively presented. Indeed, it is a tribute to the author’s scholarship and objectivity that, despite his ultimately favourable judgment of Craxi, the reader has ample material from which to draw quite different conclusions about the new PSI."
—Alexander De Grand, The Journal of European Economic History, 19, N. 1 (Spring 1990)

This book was widely reviewed in historical journals, including The American Historical Review and The Journal of Modern History.

Da Nenni a Craxi: Il socialismo italiano visto dagli Usa (Milan: SugarCo, 1991)

This Italian translation of Renewing Italian Socialism received wide notice in Italy, including reviews in such newspapers as Il Giorno (Milan), Il Messaggero Veneto (Venice), Il Lavoro (Genoa), Avanti! (Rome), and others. There was a widespread debate there that occurred in numerous symposia (in which I participated) on the book in cities that included Rome, Florence, and Genoa, and in the press.

Review: "Curiosamente, il miglior libro sulle traversie del socialismo italiano dalla scissione di Livorno alla presidenza Craxi l’ha scritto ora un italoamericano: osservatore imparziale ma appassionato, dotato del distacco sufficiente a pronunciare un guidizio storico, nutrito delle piu` vaste letture, Spencer Di Scala ha messo a segno il bel saggio ‘Da Nenni a Craxi. Il socialismo italano visto dagli Usa’, Sugarco edizioni. E` un contributo storiografico di primissimo ordine."
—Guido Gerosa, Il Giorno (Milan), January 13, 1992, p. 3

Italian Socialism Between Politics and History (Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1996)

As the scandal known as Tangentopoli was exploding in Italy, I organized an international symposium on Italian Socialism that was held at the John F. Kennedy Library in 1993 (the one hundredth anniversary of the party’s foundation occurred in 1992). This book is the result of that symposium.

Description: The international symposium brought together the best Italian and American scholars on Italian Socialism that reviewed the one hundred year history of the movement. The chapters in this book come up to the time of the book’s publication. They give a clear history, from the various perspectives of the most important scholars on the subject, from the Socialist Party’s origins till its end. The book celebrates the Party’s achievements and analyzes its downfall.

Review: "An important and in many respects unique contribution to our understanding of the Italian Socialist Party (PSI). Di Scala deserves special praise for having brought together a stellar array of experts, who provide keen insight into the history and demise of the PSI....Compelling and authoritative." —Nunzio Pernicone, author of Italian Anarchism

European Political Thought: 1815-1989 (Boulder: Westview, 1998) [with Salvo Mastellone]

Again, in my teaching I discovered that students were unfamiliar with political terms, ideas, and thinkers. I decided to write a comprehensive work on political thought by teaming up with Salvo Mastellone, an Italian political scientist. The hallmarks of this book are its readability and the way it places political thought within the contexts that produced it.

Description: This book is an insightful overview of the political ideas that have shaped the modern world from the fall of Napoleon to the collapse of the Berlin Wall. It is marked by a vast range, lively prose, and an uncommonly clear discussion of difficult ideas. The book examines post-Revolutionary France, Restoration models and utopianism, liberalism from its days through its evolution into today’s apparently victorious modern ideology, the progress and problems of socialism, anarchism, and other movements crucial to European history. The work handles critical ideologies that have received limited attention in other English-language overviews: nineteenth-century Jacobinism, the ideology of democratic national revolution, French and Italian popular nationalism, the influence on social science of politics, and antiparliamentarianism. There are clear, concise discussions of major twentieth-century totalitarian movements—Communism, Fascism, Nazism—and of the major opponents of the one-party state. Chapters on postwar Western Marxism, East-European theoretical resistance to Soviet Communism, and contemporary European political thought in the post-Cold War world round out the work.

Review: "Professors Di Scala and Mastellone (hereafter Di Scala) have done an admirable job of presenting the major themes of modern European political thought in a single narrative of a few hundred pages. They have accomplished this complex task with facility, and have presented the reader with a clear explication that in turn defines each important component and then weaves them into an integrated body of knowledge. Just as each writer built on the work of his predecessors, so the reader is presented an interpretation that progresses from More to Saint-Simon, from Constant to Tocqueville, from Hegel to Marx, from Lenin to Gorbachev.

"One particularly strong feature of the text is Di Scala’s treatment of ideas within a historical framework, a skill he admirably demonstrated in his Italian History text. There he wove ideas into the fabric of history very impressively; here he has done the converse. This is the advantage of assigning the book to a historian—especially one of Di Scala’s stature and experience—and I think that the value of this approach will become evident when you offer the book on the market." —Reviewer 1

Review: "Indeed, I think the book is quite well organized. The introduction provides a clear statement of the book's intended purpose and the overview of the text alerts students to turning points, which should also help them to divide the overall subject into periods. This overview is particularly important because 'events' in political theory do not resonate for the less experienced reader so much as in political and economic history." —Reviewer 2

I have had considerable editing experience, both as editor of a scholarly journal, the Italian Quarterly, from 1974 to 1980, and as editor of a book series on Italian and Italian American Studies for Praeger Publishers (Greenwood) from 2000 to 2006.

The books I published in the series have been especially important. Written on essential topics about which little existed in English, they have been praised in journals such as The American Historical Review, The Journal of Modern History, Choice, and others for their quality and contributions to the field and have been endorsed by top scholars.